Mandevilla Reaching Out, Oil Painting on 11x14 inch gallery wrap canvas with edges also painted.
This was a fun painting to do. It has nice contrasts of light and shadow and bright colors. The background is a very dark green. A mix of black and green I had left over from another painting and decided to paint it on a canvas to use as a background rather than waste it. After searching through my picture albums I saw this little pic of a mandevilla from several seasons back and decided to use it. Tthe black green mix had dried on the canvas so I started on it by sketching the image on this canvas with a white pastel stick so it would show up on the dark background. I started blocking in the color and as expected, the dark background dulls the life out of the first layer. I let it dry and started on it again the next day. With a more reflective base to work on the colors started poping out. I used earthtones and complimentary color to control intensity for shadows and midtones and less toward the brights. I reserved the use of pure white for the brightest points in the painting. Also, more detail on the flower and less elsewhere further from the focal point. The painting is close enough to the reference photo to tell it was used as a guide; but, I like to take some liberties with the painting and include my preferences and tecniques. I hope you like the painting and my tidbits about the work.
Let us pray before we paint,
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